1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
Generally, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus has the following configurations and processes.
That is, the surface of an electrophotographic photoreceptor is charged to desired polarity and potential by a charging unit, and the charge is selectively removed from the charged surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor by image-wise exposure, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image. The latent image is then developed into a toner image by adhering a toner to the electrostatic latent image by a developing unit, the toner image is transferred onto an transfer medium by a transfer unit, and then the transfer medium is discharged as an image formed material.
Recently, electrophotographic photoreceptors have been increasingly used in the field of copying machines, laser beam printers, and the like in view of advantages of obtaining high printing quality with a high speed.
As electrophotographic photoreceptors used in image forming apparatus, electrophotographic photoreceptors used in the related art, using inorganic photoconductive materials such as selenium, selenium-tellurium alloy, selenium-arsenic alloy, and cadmium sulfide (inorganic photoreceptors) have been known, but recently, organic photoreceptors using organic photoconductive materials having superior advantages in views of low cost, manufacturability, and disposability (organic photoreceptors) are mainly used.
In order to attain a longer lifetime and higher reliability of the electrophotographic photoreceptor, it has been proposed to provide a protective layer on the surface of an electrophotographic photoreceptor to improve the strength.
The materials for forming a protective layer have been proposed.